Re: rebbs and other stuff

[Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Sebastian Apegeguia wrote:

> hey, hey Tim, I didn't said exactly that. Of course the beauty hyposphenes 
> of Histriasaurus are plesiomorphic for rebbs, but this is not enough to 
> exclude it totally from rebbs (those devoid of a single plesiomorphy, feel 
> free to throw the firt stone!). All the best. Sebastian

To give Sebastian justice, here's what he said about _Histriasaurus_: "Dalla 
Vecchia (1998) considered this taxon a rebbachisaurid, but the presence of a 
hyposphene-hypantrum in the dorsal vertebra suggests that this taxon is a 
basal form of a more inclusive group (Gallina and Apesteguía in press).  
Neither _Rebbachisaurus garasbae_ from the Albian of Morocco, Africa 
(Lavocat, 1954), nor ?Rebbachisaurus? tessonei, from the early Cenomanian of 
Argentian, bear a hyposphene-hypantrum.  Furthermore, Bonaparte (1999) 
characterized the ?Rebbachisaurid? type of dorsal vertebra by the absence of 
a hyposphene."

The _Histriasaurus_ commentary is just one part of a very, very interesting 
article about sauropod vertebral articulations, and locomotion (Apesteguía, 
2005).

Cheers

Tim